Romanticism
A reaction against Neoclassicism:
-Dull rules -Formality -Superficial elegance
-Orderliness -Limited views -Preservation of Status Quo

Characteristics of Romantic Writing

-Bending rules. -Natural writing style.
-Experimentation. -No Limits.
-Infinite Views. -Genuine feelings of writer.
-Belief that society corrupted man.
-Favored life in natural surroundings, reflected in poetry.
-Writing filled with emotions, feelings, and intuition.
-Imagination to deal with what is real.
-Wisdom of God; Man is the Center of the Universe.
-Seeking the absolute truths behind life, man, and the Universe.
-The truth of man’s existence can only be understood through emotion, rational thought and imagination.
-Man does not need rules to make him good. Freedom produces good. The Individual is important.
-Wrote about foreign countries and exotic settings. Common people and lower classes were subjects of their poetry.
Content is more important than form.

First Generation Poets: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blake

Younger Generation: Shelley, Keats, Lord Byron